Research on for common cold cure praised

Medics in the country have welcomed research findings that promise cure for common cold by targeting human immune system rather than the virus itself.

The virus, according to doctors, keeps mutating and like other diseases, every year, there are new strains of the virus.

“Every year, there are new cold viruses, the vaccine you make this year would be different from the one you will need for the strain of flu that comes in three years,”  Dr Collins Tabu, the Head of the National Vaccines and Immunisation Programme, said.

He added it has been very difficult to include flu vaccine as part of the National Immunisation Schedule as recommended since it is very unpredictable.

EFFECTIVE VACCINE

“Flu virus keeps changing and with the dynamics, getting a single effective vaccine for all the types is a challenge. It has been difficult since every time whenever the virus changes, we have to keep pace with the changing trends,” said Dr Tabu.

However, with the research findings, he said, it would be very appropriate since it generates a more stable one term vaccine.

“The result is very much welcomed, we have suffered for long,” he said.

In Kenya, the flu season peaks during the rainy and cold seasons. Children and pregnant women are the most susceptible group to the illness.

During pregnancy, it is harder for a woman’s immune system to fight infections, making them more likely to get the flu and other diseases.

Though there are flu vaccines in the market, Dr Tabu revealed that they are not yet included in the immunisation programme.

SPREAD

According to the findings from UK researchers, the new drug blocks a key protein in the body’s cells that cold viruses normally hijack to self-replicate and spread.

The drug, according to Imperial College London researchers, should stop any cold virus in its tracks if given early enough.

“With this, I think we are going to win this fight. The virus is very clever and keeps evolving getting hold of it has been challenging but since we are using human as a subject, it would be interesting,” Dr Tabu said.

SIDE-EFFECTS

Research on the safety of the drug in people could start within two years though researchers are working on making a form of the drug that can be inhaled to reduce the chance of side-effects.

According to the findings published in the journal Nature Chemistry, when the drug was tested in the laboratory, it worked within minutes of being applied to human lung cells, targeting a human protein called NMT. Prof Ed Tate, a researcher, said the idea of getting the efficacy of the drug is to give it to someone when they first become infected.

“Even if the cold has taken hold, it still might help lessen the symptoms. This could be really helpful for people with health conditions like asthma, who can get quite ill when they catch a cold,” he said.

He said targeting the host rather than the infection was “a bit radical” but made sense because the viral target was such a tricky one.